BIM-In Practice

Building Information Modeling in Practice 

Introduction to Building Information Modeling

Building information modeling—an innovative new approach to building design, construction,
and management introduced by Autodesk in 2002—has changed the way industry
professionals worldwide think about how technology can be applied to building design,
construction, and management.

Building information modeling supports the continuous and immediate availability of project
design scope, schedule, and cost information that is high quality, reliable, integrated, and
fully coordinated. Among the many competitive advantages it confers are:
• Increased speed of delivery (time saved) 
• Better coordination (fewer errors) 
• Decreased costs (money saved) 
• Greater productivity 
• Higher-quality work 
• New revenue and business opportunities 

For each of the three major phases in the building lifecycle—design, construction, and
management—building information modeling offers access to the following critical
information:

• In the design phase—design, schedule, and budget information 
• In the construction phase—quality, schedule, and cost information  
• In the management phase—performance, utilization, and financial information 

The ability to keep this information up to date and accessible in an integrated digital
environment gives architects, engineers, builders, and owners a clear overall vision of their
projects, as well as the ability to make better decisions faster—raising the quality and
increasing the profitability of projects.

Although building information modeling is an approach and not a technology, it does require
suitable technology to be implemented effectively. Examples of some of these technologies,
in increasing order of effectiveness, include:

• CAD 
• Object CAD 
• Parametric Building Modeling

This paper will describe what building information modeling is, how it confers competitive
advantages, how it can be achieved using a flexible range of technologies, and how
Autodesk can help firms that want to investigate and implement this exciting new approach.